blue cheer Oh! Pleasant Hope (LP, £20.75)

label: akarma

'Highwayman', which opens the sixth album by Blue Cheer, is a far cry from their version of Eddie Cochran's 'Summertime Blues', which launched this group to worldwide fame. And though they were the original group to put their amps on 11, 'Oh! Pleasant Hope' is a musical album. This first track, resplendent in heavy vocal reverb, sounds like Waylon Jennings fronting Quicksilver Messenger Service. The album quickly changes pace with 'Believer''s interesting riff and the experimental production by Blue Cheer and Eric Albronda.